Evaluation of the bioremediation of a contaminated soil with phytotoxicity tests

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:6081192

Baud-Grasset, F; Baud-Grasset, S; Safferman, S I

The fungal remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a contaminated soil from a hazardous waste site was evaluated in a pilot-scale treatability study. Because toxic chemicals may not be measured accurately in chemical analysis and disappearance of parent compounds may not indicate detoxification of the soil, higher plants were selected to evaluate the overall reduction in toxicity in the soil after fungal treatment. Seed germination tests using soil samples and root elongation tests using soil eluates were conducted with three different species (lettuce, oat and millet) before and after treatment. Phytotoxicity tests revealed significant detoxification of soil after treatment with a good correlation with parent compound depletion. The seed germination test appeared to be more sensitive than the root elongation test, suggesting that the toxic compounds were not easily extracted from the soil to the aqueous solution. The study indicates that phytotoxicity tests have good potential to be used as an environmental tool to assess the efficacy of a remediation technology for site clean-up.

• Research Organization: Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH (United States). Risk Reduction Engineering Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6081192
• Report Number(s): PB-93-191625/XAB; EPA--600/J-93/166
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540220 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
550700* -- Microbiology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AROMATICS
BIODEGRADATION
CEREALS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CONTAMINATION
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
DETOXIFICATION
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
ELONGATION
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
EVALUATED DATA
FOOD
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
FUNGI
GERMINATION
GRAMINEAE
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
LETTUCE
LILIOPSIDA
MAGNOLIOPHYTA
MAGNOLIOPSIDA
MATERIALS
MILLET
MINIMIZATION
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PILOT PLANTS
PLANTS
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
REMEDIAL ACTION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SOILS
TOXIC MATERIALS
TOXICITY
VEGETABLES